A web browser is a software application that is commonly used for retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. Each information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and may be a web page, an image, a video, or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in information resources enable users to easily navigate their web browsers to related information resources. Examples of modern web browsers include but are not limited to INTERNET EXPLORER®, published by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington, CHROME™, published by Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., FIREFOX®, published by the Mozilla Foundation of Mountain View, Calif., and SAFARI®, published by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Although web browsers are often used to navigate the World Wide Web, they can also be used to access information provided by web servers in private networks (e.g., enterprise networks) or files in file systems.
Some web browsers are designed to present users with a so-called “new tab page” when the user first launches the web browser and/or when the user opens a new tab within the web browser graphical user interface (GUI). The new tab page typically includes features that make it easy for users to complete common browsing tasks and is designed to help users access the information resources in which they are most interested. Traditionally, new tab page features have been limited to a search box that the user can use to submit queries to a search engine and links to a set of web sites that have been frequently visited by the user. New tab page features are typically consumer-oriented.
Conventional web browsers do not provide enterprises with an easy way to disseminate corporate information to their employees. Instead, many enterprises develop their own corporate web pages for this purpose. These corporate web pages may be set as the default home page on employees' web browsers. Developing and maintaining such corporate home pages can consume a significant amount of time and effort, particularly on the part of an enterprise's information technology (IT) department.
For enterprises that provide their employees with access to a web browser, there is often a concern that employees will spend an excessive amount of work time browsing the Internet for non-work-related purposes. To address this issue, some corporate IT departments place restrictions on the web sites that employees can access with their web browsers. For example, some corporate IT departments may restrict access to a set of internal web sites only and/or to a limited set of external web sites. Employees may not appreciate having their browsing freedom curtailed in this manner.